Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) refining, any of various processes for separating impurities from crude or semifinished materials. It includes the finer processes of metallurgy, the fractional distillation of petroleum into its comm...

(Encyclopedia) Agassiz, Alexander ăgˈəsē [key], 1835–1910, American naturalist and industrialist, b. Neuchâtel, Switzerland; son of Louis Agassiz, stepson of Elizabeth Cary Agassiz. He came to the United Stat...

(Encyclopedia) Gaspé Peninsula or Gaspésie gäspāzēˈ [key], tongue of land, E Que., Canada, between the estuary of the St. Lawrence River on the north and Chaleur Bay on the south, and extending eastward into t...

(Encyclopedia) manganese măngˈgənēs, mănˈ– [key] [Lat.,=magnet], metallic chemical element; symbol Mn; at. no. 25; at. wt. 54.93805; m.p. about 1,244℃; b.p. about 1,962℃; sp. gr. 7.2 to 7.45, depending o...

(Encyclopedia) New Guinea gĭnˈē [key], island, c.342,000 sq mi (885,780 sq km), SW Pacific, N of Australia; the world's second largest island after Greenland. Politically it is divided into two sections: the Indo...

(Encyclopedia) oxidation and reduction, complementary chemical reactions characterized by the loss or gain, respectively, of one or more electrons by an atom or molecule. Originally the term oxidation was used to re...

(Encyclopedia) herbicide hrˈbəsīdˌ [key], chemical compound that kills plants or inhibits their normal growth. A herbicide in a particular formulation and application can be described as selective or nonselectiv...

(Encyclopedia) beryllium bərĭlˈēəm [key] [from beryl ], metallic chemical element; symbol Be; at. no. 4; at. wt. 9.01218; m.p. about 1,278℃; b.p. 2,970℃ (estimated); sp. gr. 1.85 at 20℃; valence +2. Ber...

(Encyclopedia) Hamburg hämˈbo͝orkh [key], officially Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg (Free and Hanseatic Cit...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Chile chĭlˈē, Span. chēˈlā [key], officially Republic of Chile, republic (2020 est. pop. 19,116,201), ...